Antonio Tiberi takes the first WorldTour victory of his career, winning Stage 3 of the 2026 UAE Tour on its unprecedented uphill finish at Jebel Mobrah.
Tiberi’s win shakes up the general classification, delivering both the stage win and the Red Jersey to the Bahrain Victorious rider. Tiberi responded to the initial attacks launched by Felix Gall, taking control with 4000 metres to go and managing to hold off the comeback by Isaac Del Toro. The latter had approached the brutal gradients of the final climb cautiously before finishing 15” behind the new Red Jersey and ahead of the 2024 winner, Lennert Van Eetvelt. A different story for Remco Evenepoel, who tried to respond to the early attacks but then lost ground, crossing the line 2’03” down on the winner. In the general classification, Tiberi leads by 21” over Del Toro and 1’00” over Harold Tejada. Rounding out the provisional top five are Lennert Van Eetvelt and Luke Plapp.
Speaking in the press conference, the stage winner and new Red Jersey Antonio Tiberi said: “This win means a lot to me as much as it does for my team, my family, my girlfriend and all the people who have believed in me since I took up cycling. They know all the sacrifices I’ve made to get here. Today’s win gives me confirmation that I’ve had a good winter, without any hiccups like last year with sickness and a stupid crash during the training camp. I wanted to see in a serious climb like today’s what the good level I had reached could bring me. I knew I could do well, but to leave people like Isaac Del Toro and Remco Evenepoel behind, it’s big! Having such feelings on the bike in February give me so much desire for my coming goals”.
The Green Jersey Isaac Del Toro said: “On the profile, it looked like a very hard climb, something I never did as a leader for the team. I had to be careful with my efforts up the hill. The team did a perfect job trying to control and help me. Thanks to them, I was able to try and do well in the final. I would have loved to catch Antonio Tiberi but he was going so fast, chapeau to him. I really tried. I wasn’t super confident with the group I was in. Maybe 21 seconds deficit are a lot or nothing, we’ll see. I remain optimistic”.
Stage 3 Brief Results:
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), 183km in 4h24’44”, average speed 41.476 km/h
- Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) at 15″
- Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) at 29″
- Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) at 41″
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) at 51″
General Classification After Stage 3:
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious)
- Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) at 21″
- Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) at 1’00”
- Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) at 1’07”
- Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) at 1’19”
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